June 28, 2022

Today is primary day in eight states, including Colorado & New York.

Afternoon Update:

The New York Times' live updates of Cassidy Hutchinson's startling testimony are here: Luke Broadwater: "... Donald J. Trump knew the crowd he amassed in Washington on Jan. 6, 2021, was armed and could turn violent, but wanted security precautions lifted because he said his supporters were not there to attack him, according to a junior White House aide who testified on Tuesday to the House committee investigating the attack. In extraordinary blow-by-blow testimony based on episodes she witnessed in the West Wing of the White House, Cassidy Hutchinson, an aide to Mark Meadows, the former chief of staff, revealed that the president had demanded to march to the Capitol with his supporters even as the riot was underway, at one point trying to grab the steering wheel of the presidential limo from a Secret Service agent when he was told he could not go.... As rioters stormed the Capitol, chanting 'Hang Mike Pence,' Mr. Trump endorsed the violence. Ms. Hutchinson testified that Mr. Meadows said of Mr. Trump, 'He doesn't want to do anything,' and 'He thinks Mike deserves it. He doesn't think they're doing anything wrong.'... Inside the White House, Mr. Trump became enraged when he learned that William P. Barr, the former attorney general, had publicly shot down his false allegations of a stolen election. He beat the table and threw dishes, splattering ketchup on the wall, Ms. Hutchinson said, adding that it was not the first time she had seen the president smash crockery in a rage." ~~~

~~~ Katie Benner: "Hutchinson provided many bombshells. The shocking description of Trump wrestling the Secret Service for control of his car on Jan. 6 so he could go to the Capitol. Portraying Meadows, her former boss, as a man who abdicated responsibility to the nation and hoped to be pardoned. And saying Trump knew that his supporters had dangerous weapons when he asked them to march on Congress.... Cheney says that Trump allies have been intimidating committee witnesses in messages that sound more like Mafia warnings than communications with a former president's aides. 'He wants me to let you know he's thinking about you. He knows you're loyal.'" ~~~

~~~ Maggie Haberman: "Trump, basically a one-man response team for himself, is going after Hutchinson on his social media site, Truth Social. He's using a familiar tack, that he hardly knows 'who this person, Cassidy Hutchinson, is.'" ~~~

~~~ Peter Baker: "To see a retired three-star general [Michael Flynn] who swore an oath to defend the country and the Constitution plead the Fifth when asked if he believed in the peaceful transfer of power in America is another stunning moment today." ~~~

     ~~~ The Washington Post's live updates are here. Politico's story, by Kyle Cheney & others, is here.

Danny Hakim & Richard Fausset of the New York Times: "Rudolph W. Giuliani has emerged as a central figure in a Georgia criminal investigation of efforts by Donald J. Trump and his allies to overturn his election loss in the state, with prosecutors questioning witnesses last week before a special grand jury about Mr. Giuliani's appearances before state legislative panels after the 2020 vote, the witnesses said. For Mr. Giuliani, the developments are the latest in a widening swath of trouble.... He also participated in a scheme to create slates of fake presidential electors in 2020 that is now the subject of an intensifying investigation by the Department of Justice.... The crux of his conduct [in Georgia] came during two hearings in December 2020, when Mr. Giuliani appeared before state legislative panels and spent hours peddling false conspiracy theories about secret suitcases of Democratic ballots and corrupted voting machines. He told members of the State House, 'You cannot possibly certify Georgia in good faith.'"

Glenn Thrush, et al., of the New York Times: "As the Justice Department expands its criminal investigation into the efforts to keep ... Donald J. Trump in office after his 2020 election loss, the critical job of pulling together some of its disparate strands has been given to an aggressive, if little-known, federal prosecutor named Thomas P. Windom. Since late last year, when he was detailed to the U.S. attorney's office in Washington, Mr. Windom, 44, has emerged as a key leader in one of the most complex, consequential and sensitive inquiries to have been taken on by the Justice Department in recent memory, and one that has kicked into higher gear over the past week with a raft of new subpoenas and other steps."

Supremes Again Rule Against Democracy, Black Americans. Adam Liptak of the New York Times: "The Supreme Court on Tuesday reinstated a congressional voting map in Louisiana that a federal judge had said diluted the power of Black voters. The court's three liberal members dissented. The Supreme Court's brief order, which included no reasoning, blocked the judge's order and granted a petition seeking review in the case. The justices will, the order said, hold the Louisiana case while the court decides a similar one from Alabama in its next term."

Texas. Ariana Perez-Castells, et al., of the Texas Tribune: "Abortions up to about six weeks in pregnancy can resume at some clinics in Texas for now after a Harris County District Court judge granted a temporary restraining order that blocks an abortion ban that was in place before Roe v. Wade. In the ruling issued Tuesday, Judge Christine Weems ruled that the pre-Roe abortion ban 'is repealed and may not be enforced consistent with the due process guaranteed by the Texas constitution.'"

Boebert Unaware of First Amendment. Adela Suliman & Timothy Bella of the Washington Post: "Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.), who faces a primary election Tuesday, says she is 'tired' of the U.S. separation of church and state, a long-standing concept stemming from a 'stinking letter' penned by one of the Founding Fathers. Speaking at a religious service Sunday in Colorado, she told worshipers: 'The church is supposed to direct the government. The government is not supposed to direct the church. That is not how our Founding Fathers intended it.' She added: 'I'm tired of this separation of church and state junk that's not in the Constitution. It was in a stinking letter, and it means nothing like what they say it does.'... Gwen Calais-Haase, a political scientist at Harvard University, told The Washington Post that Boebert's interpretation of the Constitution was 'false, misleading and dangerous.' Calais-Haase said she was 'extremely worried about the environment of misinformation that extremist politicians take advantage of for their own gains.'"

Hundreds of Auditors Cheated on Their Ethics Exams. Matthew Goldstein of the New York Times: "Ernst & Young, one of the world's largest auditing firms, has agreed to pay a $100 million fine after U.S. securities regulators found that hundreds of its auditors had cheated on various ethics exams they were required to obtain or maintain professional licenses -- and that the firm did not do enough to stop the practice. The penalty, announced Tuesday, is the largest ever imposed by the Securities and Exchange Commission against a firm in the auditing business, which occupies a unique ethical perch in the financial world. These firms are in charge of verifying the accuracy of companies' financial statements and issuing warnings to investors if they identify dubious accounting practices." MB: I don't suppose the Ernst & Young honchos can see the multiple ironies here.

Shayna Jacobs of the Washington Post: "Ghislaine Maxwell, who was convicted last year of trafficking young sexual abuse victims to financier Jeffrey Epstein over the course of a decade, on Tuesday was sentenced to 20 years in prison.... [Judge Alison] Nathan said she chose a prison term longer than what she believed the guidelines called for because it was 'important to note [Maxwell's] lack of acceptance of responsibility.'"

~~~~~~~~~~

** Luke Broadwater & Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: "The House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol on Monday abruptly scheduled a hearing for Tuesday afternoon to hear what the panel called 'recently obtained evidence' and take witness testimony, a surprise move that touched off a wave of speculation about a potential explosive revelation. The hearing is scheduled for 1 p.m. on Capitol Hill, according to a news release issued by the committee, in which it provided no other details about the session.... Pressed on the matter on Monday, aides declined to divulge what additional evidence they planned to present on Tuesday or who would be testifying." An AP story is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Update. Nicholas Wu, et al., of Politico: "The Jan. 6 select committee is set to hear from a onetime top aide to former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows on Tuesday, an abruptly scheduled hearing whose announcement riveted Washington. Cassidy Hutchinson will testify publicly, according to two people familiar with the committee's plans, after providing crucial testimony to the panel about significant exchanges among top Donald Trump's inner circle in the weeks before the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol. Hutchinson replaced her attorney earlier this month as the select committee's hearings began; her former attorney was the Trump White House's chief ethics lawyer, and her new attorney is a longtime ally of former Attorney General Jeff Sessions.... It's unclear why the panel expedited Hutchinson's hearing, or whether she will appear alongside other significant witnesses."

** Alan Feuer of the New York Times: "Federal agents armed with a search warrant have seized the phone of John Eastman, a lawyer who advised ... Donald J. Trump on a key element of the effort to overturn the results of the 2020 election, according to a court filing by Mr. Eastman on Monday. The filing, a motion to recover property from the government, said that F.B.I. agents in New Mexico, acting on behalf of the Department of Justice's Office of the Inspector General, stopped Mr. Eastman as he was leaving a restaurant last Wednesday and seized his iPhone. A copy of the warrant included as an exhibit in Mr. Eastman's filing said that the phone would be taken to the inspector general's forensic lab in Northern Virginia. The seizure ... is the latest evidence that the Justice Department is intensifying its criminal investigation into the various strands of Mr. Trump's efforts to remain in power after he was defeated in his bid for re-election.... The seizure of Mr. Eastman's phone appears to have come on the same day that federal agents also seized the phone of Jeffrey Clark...." (Also linked yesterday.) A CNN report is here.

Hugo Lowell of the Guardian: "The House select committee investigating the January 6 Capitol attack is closely focused on phone calls and conversations among Donald Trump's children and top aides captured by a documentary film-maker weeks before the 2020 election.... One part of [filmmaker Alex] Holder's testimony that particularly piqued the interest of the members of the select committee and chief investigative counsel Tim Heaphy was when he disclosed that he had managed to record discussions at [a] 29 September 2020 event.... On [that date]..., Steve Bannon said in an interview with HBO’s The Circus that the outcome of the 2020 election would be decided at the state level and eventually at the congressional certification on January 6.... Asked how he expects the election to end, Bannon said: 'Right before noon on the 20th, in a vote in the House, Trump will win the presidency.' The select committee believes that ideas such as Bannon's were communicated to advisors to Donald Jr and his fiancee, Kimberly Guilfoyle, even before the 2020 election.... What appears to interest the panel is whether Trump and his children had planned to somehow stop the certification of the election on January 6...."

Shawn Hubler & Mitch Smith of the New York Times: "The battle over abortion shifted to the states on Monday.... Conservatives in roughly half of the states [moved] swiftly to end or dramatically restrict reproductive rights, and liberals in about 20 more [scrambled] to preserve them.... Abortion rights advocates in Kentucky, Idaho, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas sued on Monday to halt or delay bans on abortion after a similar court challenge was filed in Arizona over the weekend. Planned Parenthood South Atlantic moved to withdraw a federal court challenge to a ban in South Carolina, but apparently only so the organization could file a fresh challenge in state courts.... [In] Louisiana and Utah..., judges on Monday temporarily blocked enforcement of laws that would have banned abortion. Abortion rights advocates are coalescing around a strategy of asking courts for temporary injunctions that at the very least can allow abortions to proceed in the short term. One of Louisiana's three clinics already said on Monday that it would reopen."

California. Reis Thebault of the Washington Post: "California is poised to become one of the first states in the nation to explicitly enshrine the right to abortion and contraception in its constitution after lawmakers on Monday voted to advance a constitutional amendment, putting the issue on the November ballot. The amendment is part of a flurry of legislative efforts in liberal states aimed at solidifying reproductive rights in the aftermath of last week's Supreme Court decision striking down Roe v. Wade. California, which has advertised itself as a sanctuary for people seeking abortions, is trying to lead the way. The bill introducing the proposed amendment easily passed through the state's legislature, where Democrats hold a supermajority, and voters will now consider it during the general election. A wide majority of Californians have said they oppose overturning Roe, and the amendment is expected to pass."

Utah. Praveena Somasundaram of the Washington Post: "A judge in Utah granted a temporary restraining order to block the state's 'trigger ban' on Monday, allowing abortion services to resume immediately. Third District Judge Andrew Stone in Salt Lake City granted a 14-day restraining order in an emergency hearing requested by the Planned Parenthood Association of Utah (PPAU).... Utah's trigger ban, which the legislature passed in 2020, prohibits abortions with limited exceptions, such as if the procedure is necessary to prevent a pregnant person's death or if a person is pregnant as a result of incest or rape." (Also linked yesterday.)

Andrew Solender of Axios: "House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) on Monday said she's preparing votes on a number of bills protecting abortion as well as codifying landmark Supreme Court decisions as a response to the court overturning Roe v. Wade.... In a 'Dear Colleague' letter to her caucus, Pelosi hinted at bills to respond to Justice Clarence Thomas' concurring opinion in Dobbs v. Jackson calling for the court to revisit landmark rulings protecting same-sex relationships, marriage equality and access to contraceptives.... Much of this legislation will likely go nowhere in the Senate, where 60 votes are needed to bypass the filibuster."

Yasmeen Abutaleb, et al. of the Washington Post: "To an increasingly vocal group of frustrated Democrats, activists and even members of Congress, [tepid] responses [to the Supreme Court' radicalism] by party leaders have been strikingly inadequate to meet a moment of crisis. They criticize the notion that it is on voters to turn out in November when they say Democrats are unwilling to push boundaries and upend the system in defense of hard-won civil liberties.... Progressive lawmakers, including Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), have outlined several actions they want to see Democrats embrace: Building abortion clinics on federal land. Funding people to seek abortions out of state. Limiting the Supreme Court's jurisdiction or expanding its membership. Ending the filibuster.... [President] Biden and his team have signaled discomfort with many of these ideas, particularly any far-reaching overhaul of the Supreme Court.... But many abortion rights supporters say Republicans have routinely broken the rules in recent years and benefited enormously from it...."

Philip Bump of the Washington Post: "The last institutionalists are the leaders of the Democratic party.... In part because its leaders have been on the job for so long -- [President] Biden has been in politics with limited interruption since 1973, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi since 1987 and Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer since 1981 -- they retain some obvious confidence that the system will work out its own kinks.... For younger Democrats, this is inexplicable. This is a generation that has been directly confronted with a number of dire threats: the growing effects of climate change, mass shootings in schools and the demonstrated dangers of domestic extremism.... That's probably been reinforced by a period of American politics in which ... Donald Trump and his allies have repeatedly targeted the solidity of those same institutions."

Aaron Blake of the Washington Post: Especially during election years, GOP elected officials, including Donald Trump in 2020, claimed that the Supreme Court would never overturn Roe v. Wade. "On the one hand, the Republican Party has pushed for it for decades; on the other, even as it has done so, plenty within its ranks have assured that it wasn't happening. The party seemed to want the benefits of the push with its base, without the consequences of the unpopular prospect with the broader electorate. It also knew that overturning Roe was a red line for some key abortion-rights-supporting GOP senators whose votes were needed to confirm the justices who would eventually overturn Roe." Blake cites examples. (Also linked yesterday.)

Jennifer Rubin of the Washington Post thinks up some ways Susan Collins & Joe Manchin can make some substantive amends for the damage the have caused the country by voting to confirm Brett Kavanaugh. "... it is not politically or morally sufficient for Collins or Manchin to simply holler 'I was tricked!' when the rights of millions of Americans are at stake. Whether she was deceived, when a public official make an error so egregious, it is incumbent on her to fix the damage. If Collins refuses to do so, voters will draw the conclusion that she wasn't that surprised -- or that sorry -- that she enabled the destruction of women's fundamental right to reject forced birth." (Also linked yesterday.)

The Supreme Court has no power to enforce its decisions. It doesn't have an army. The only thing it has power to do is write PDFs and put them up on its website. -- Daniel Epps, U. of Washington ~~~

~~~ Peter Coy of the New York Times: "People on the losing end of Supreme Court decisions increasingly feel that justice is not being served. That's a scary situation for the high court, and for American democracy in general.... All the Supreme Court really has to go on is the public's acceptance of its rulings as legitimate.... [In the Dobbs case, overruling Roe v. Wade,] Justices Stephen Breyer, Elena Kagan and Sonia Sotomayor ... flatly [stated] in their dissent that the majority's decision 'undermines the court's legitimacy.'... For the losing side, the sting of the decision was made worse by [Mitch McConnell's manipulation of the Court's makeup].... That ... tore a hole in the fabric of democracy."

Eugene Robinson of the Washington Post: "You are now governed by a secretive and unaccountable junta in long black robes.... They want a country where women, once again, are at best second-class citizens.... Our rulers want a country in which guns are everywhere -- and the victims of those guns are seen as the price to be paid for a warped idea of 'freedom.'... The junta does not believe the nation's founders were serious about the separation of church and state.... Previous Supreme Court majorities have expanded the rights and opportunities of the marginalized.... The junta clearly sees these rights as suspect.... In the short term, the junta is willing for the United States to be more like the loose collection of sovereign states created by the Articles of Confederation than the strong union created by the Constitution.... The junta clearly wants to transform the whole country to suit its reactionary vision."

Michael Wines & Eliza Fawcett of the New York Times: "... a year after Attorney General Merrick B. Garland established the federal Election Threats Task Force, almost no one ... has faced punishment.... Only [one] has successfully concluded out of more than 1,000 it has evaluated. Public reports of prosecutions by state and local officials are equally sparse, despite an explosion of intimidating and even violent threats against election workers, largely since ... Donald J. Trump began spreading the lie that fraud cost him the 2020 presidential election.... The depth of election workers' fear was underscored in hearings this month by the congressional panel investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, assault at the U.S. Capitol.... [Some] experts say the lack of both action and transparency was undermining the principal goal of the task force -- to stop the epidemic of violent threats." (Also linked yesterday.)

Matthew Goldstein of the New York Times: "The public listing of ... Donald J. Trump's social media company took a fresh blow on Monday when the cash-rich shell company merging with Mr. Trump's company disclosed in a regulatory filing that a federal grand jury in New York recently issued subpoenas to the company and its directors. The grand jury subpoenas were issued within the past week, according to the filing by Digital World Acquisition Corporation, a special purpose acquisition company, or SPAC, that announced a merger with Trump Media & Technology Group in October. After the merger, Trump Media would assume Digital World's listing and trade as a public company. The disclosure by Digital World is the first indication that federal prosecutors in Manhattan have joined in the scrutiny of the merger between Digital World and Trump Media, which has been under investigation by financial regulators for months. The investigation threatens to further delay the completion of the merger, which would provide Mr. Trump's company and its social media platform, Truth Social, with up to $1.3 billion in capital, in addition to a stock market listing." (Also linked yesterday.)

What a Surprise! Adam Liptak of the New York Times: "The Supreme Court ruled on Monday that a high school football coach had a constitutional right to pray at the 50-yard line after his team's games. The vote was 6 to 3, with the court's three liberal members in dissent. The case pitted the rights of government workers to free speech and the free exercise of their faith against the Constitution's prohibition of government endorsement of religion and the ability of public employers to regulate speech in the workplace. The decision was in tension with decades of Supreme Court precedents that forbade pressuring students to participate in religious activities. The case concerned Joseph Kennedy, an assistant coach at a public high school in Bremerton, Wash., near Seattle. For eight years, Mr. Kennedy routinely offered prayers after games, with students often joining him. He also led and participated in prayers in the locker room, a practice he later abandoned and did not defend in the Supreme Court." The AP's report is here. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Update. The Washington Post story, which is here, is topped by a photo of Kennedy kneeling in prayer, leaning on a football, in front of the Supreme Court building. According to the caption, this display of piety took place "after the Court heard arguments." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Kennedy's practice of Christianity directly contradicts Biblical teaching. One of the best-known parts of the New Testament is Matthew's Sermon on the Mount. In this sermon, Jesus teaches his followers how to pray. As a sort of preamble to his saying the Lord's Prayer -- the only prayer Jesus is credited with saying -- Jesus admonishes the crowd, "And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you." (Matthew 6:5) So the confederate Supremes' decision in this case is not just bad law; it's bad religion, too.

Adam Liptak of the New York Times: "The Supreme Court on Monday sided with two doctors convicted of illegally dispensing drugs without a legitimate medical purpose. The ruling was unanimous, though the justices disagreed on the precise rationale. They were united, however, in saying that prosecutors needed to prove more than that the doctors had violated objective standards. Justice Stephen G. Breyer, writing for six members of the court, said that, so long as doctors were authorized to dispense controlled substances, prosecutors 'must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant knew that he or she was acting in an unauthorized manner, or intended to do so.'... The Supreme Court sent the case back to the appeals courts to consider whether the juries in the two cases had been properly instructed and, if not, whether the errors were harmless."

Paul Krugman of the New York Times: "... over the past few days we've received even more reminders of just how extreme Republicans have become..... Where is this extremism coming from?... The Republican turn toward extremism began during the 1990s.... I think I've found [an historical precursor]: the rise of the Ku Klux Klan in the 1920s.... OK, the modern G.O.P. isn't as bad as the second K.K.K. But Republican extremism clearly draws much of its energy from the same sources. And because G.O.P. extremism is fed by resentment against the very things that, as I see it, truly make America great -- our diversity, our tolerance for difference -- it cannot be appeased or compromised with. It can only be defeated."

Marie: I consider myself to be a liberal, but a rather moderate, sensible liberal in touch with reality. Still, I have shocked myself over the past several years, beginning probably with Mitch McConnell's refusal to give the very moderate Merrick Garland a hearing, at some of the seemingly radical, alarmist things I have thought & written. My views & predictions have become more radical since the 2020 election. I sometimes stop and ask myself, "Do I really mean that?" Yet what also has surprised me over the last several months is that other reasonable opinionators have caught up with me. They are, at long last, expressing the same alarm I felt some seven years ago. Krugman notes in the column linked above, "Yet as Edward Luce of The Financial Times recently pointed out, 'at every juncture over last 20 years the America "alarmists" have been right.'"

Beyond the Beltway

New York. Jeffrey Mays of the New York Times: "A law that would have allowed noncitizens to vote in local elections in New York City was struck down on Monday by a State Supreme Court justice on Staten Island who said it violated the State Constitution. The measure, which was passed by the City Council in December, would have allowed more than 800,000 permanent legal residents and people with authorization to work in the United States to vote for offices such as mayor and City Council. But Justice Ralph J. Porzio ruled that the new law conflicted with constitutional guidelines and state law stating that only eligible citizens can vote. To give noncitizens a right to vote would require a referendum, the judge wrote.... Joshua A. Douglas, a professor at the University of Kentucky..., said he was surprised by the ruling because the State Constitution does not specify that only citizens can vote." Republicans challenged the ordinance.

New York. Akhilleus the Skeptic asserted in yesterday's thread that Rudy Giuliani may have ever-so slightly exaggerated the force of the slap on the back he got from a grocery clerk who accurately labeled Rudy a scumbag. I'll leave it to you to judge, but it looks to me as if the woman standing next to Rudy, who appears to be a friend of his, touched Rudy's back harder than did the grocery worker. Nevertheless, Rudy had the guy arrested because he thought the guy had shot him & would have knocked him down if Rudy hadn't been so fit. In my view, the worker appears to have simply tagged Rudy to make sure everyone knew who the scumbag was:

     ~~~ Related story linked yesterday. Marie: In additional interviews -- Rudy seems to have given quite a few interviews about being the victim of this horrendous violent crime -- Rudy said he "could have been killed" by that pat on the back and claimed "it hurt tremendously." When he learned the changes against the vicious perp had been downgraded & released from jail, he said he wasn't worried for himself because the Mafia already had threatened him, but he was worried this dangerous thug was free to come after "you" and beat you up. My advice: hide inside your house surrounded by an arsenal, and pray that's enough to fend off this savage young punk. ~~~

     ~~~ Update. Chelsia Marcius of the New York Times: "A grocery store worker accused of assaulting Rudolph W. Giuliani at a Staten Island supermarket on Sunday had the charges against him reduced after the emergence of video footage that appeared to show him patting Mr. Giuliani on the back with an open palm rather than striking him. The worker, Daniel Gill, had been charged with second-degree assault, a felony, in the immediate aftermath of the episode. Prosecutors later reduced the charges to third-degree assault, a misdemeanor, third-degree menacing and second-degree harassment.... The [original] complaint charging Mr. Gill says he hit Mr. Giuliani so hard that the blow resulted in 'substantial pain to the back and left side of his body' and caused Mr. Giuliani to stumble forward.... 'Our client merely patted Mr. Giuliani, who sustained nothing remotely resembling physical injuries, without malice to simply get his attention, as the video footage clearly showed,' [a] statement [from the Legal Aid Society, which represents Mr. Gill, said]."~~~

     ~~~ Marie: So good work, Akhilleus. ~~~

     ~~~ Dana Milbank of the Washington Post: "Not for the first time, Americans face a conundrum over whom to believe: Rudy Giuliani, or their own lying eyes?... The supermarket shenanigans, as captured in the video, resemble not in the slightest the preposterous tale of criminal brutality that Giuliani turned them into.... The progenitor of the 'big lie,' stripped of his law license for that, is now fibbing in the produce aisle.... Informed that authorities were downgrading the charges and releasing the worker, Giuliani declared that New York had become 'the wild, wild West' and that the employee posed a grave risk to public safety." Milbank recounts many of the ridiculous things Giuliani said about the non-incident.

Texas Horror. Arelis Hernández, et al., of the Washington Post: "The bodies of 46 migrants were found in the back of a sweltering tractor-trailer in San Antonio on Monday, the deadliest smuggling incident of its kind in U.S. history. The horrific incident comes amid a record influx of migrants across the U.S.-Mexico border, where authorities are on pace to record more than 2 million arrests during fiscal 2022. Rescuers pulled 16 people from the truck who were still alive and conscious, including four minors, San Antonio Fire Chief Charles Hood told reporters. They were taken for medical treatment. Three people have been taken into police custody, authorities said." The Texas Tribune story is here.

Virginia House Race. Azi Paybarah of the New York Times: "A Republican nominee in a closely watched House race in Virginia made bizarre and false comments about rape victims, saying in leaked audio recordings that she wouldn't be surprised if a woman's body prevents pregnancies from rape because 'it's not something that's happening organically,' and that the rapist is doing it 'quickly.' The nominee, Yesli Vega, a supervisor and sheriff's deputy in Prince William County, made the remarks at a campaign stop last month in Stafford County, according to Axios, which published the audio recordings on Monday." The Axios story is here. MB: Your guess is as good as mine about what this law enforcement officer means by "organic."It's hard to believe anyone can be so stupid. But there you go.

Way Beyond

Ukraine, et al.

The Washington Post's live updates of developments Tuesday in Russia's war on Ukraine are here: "Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky again urged the United States to name Moscow a state sponsor of terrorism -- a designation that would trigger significant penalties -- after a Russian missile strike on a shopping mall in the central city of Kremenchuk killed at least 18 people.... Leaders of the Group of Seven nations, an assembly of economic powers, collectively condemned the strike as a war crime, and the U.N. Security Council is set to discuss the strike at a meeting on Tuesday.... In eastern Ukraine, Kyiv's troops are still holding back Russian forces in Lysychansk, the last Ukrainian foothold in the Luhansk region.... NATO leaders are gathering Tuesday for a summit in Madrid, as the transatlantic alliance seeks a long-term strategy for the war on its borders and for global issues such as soaring commodity prices. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg announced Monday that the Western military bloc will sharply increase the number of its high-readiness troops to 300,000.... Ukraine has received advanced multiple-launch rocket systems dispatched by Washington and appears to be employing them 'very well,' the Pentagon said. The trial of WNBA star Brittney Griner, who U.S. officials say is wrongfully detained in Russia, will begin July 1. She has been in custody on a drug charge for four months." ~~~

     ~~~ The New York Times' live updates for Tuesday are here. CNN's live updates are here.

Russia Conducts Another Major Terrorist Attack on Ukrainians. Valerie Hopkins, et al., of the New York Times: "Hundreds of people were out shopping, chatting and meeting with friends in a shopping mall in central Ukraine on Monday, a rare moment of normalcy amid the horror of war. Then a Russian missile struck. The attack left at least 16 dead and at least 10 missing at the shopping mall, near a railway station in the industrial city of Kremenchuk, located in Ukraine's central Poltava region. 'People just burned alive,' Denys Monastyrskyi, Ukraine's interior minister, said in an interview. In four months of conflict characterized by indiscriminate violence, the strike was just the latest vivid and bloody example of Russia's willingness to target civilians at a nonmilitary site, with people going about their daily lives."

News Lede

New York Times: "An Amtrak train carrying more than 200 passengers crashed into a dump truck in rural Missouri on Monday, killing three people and injuring dozens, the authorities said. It was the second fatal accident involving the railroad service in two days. Two of the people killed were on the train, and the other was in the truck, the authorities said.... Eight cars and two locomotives derailed, Amtrak said, and most of the cars ended up on their sides.... The crash came one day after another Amtrak passenger train

Comments

[NiskyGuy]

Lawrence O'Donnell highlighted how Texas Governor greg abbot's solution to banning abortion is to "eliminate rape in Texas." Texas led the nation in forcible rape cases in 2020.

Which made me wonder: What is Texas doing to bring about such dramatic change? The answer has been to go begging. Begging for help from the Feds.

In December, 2021, the Texas Department of Public Safety was awarded a $2.8 Million grant from the US Department of Justice to help process untested rape kits.

https://www.ketk.com/news/crime-public-safety/thousands-of-rape-kits-on-backlog-texas-dps-receives-2-8-million-grant-to-reduce-untested-kits/

This article notes that there were 3,577 untested rape kits in December 2021, but I notice that they only start counting from September, 2019. Any test kits languishing on shelves from before then don't even count.

In May of 2021, the Texas legislature passed a $248 Billion budget. But they had to go begging to the Feds for .0011% of that amount to begin conducting the first stage of investigation on rape. The level of disgust I feel for those people cannot be expressed in words.

[Forrest Morris]

https://democraticunderground.com/100216856058

MSNBC has found the host that will replace Rachel Maddow at
9:00 p.m.: Alex Wagner

I read somewhere previously that Rachel Maddow's wife was
extremely ill with Covid. Don't know if that's the reason or not.

[P.D. Pepe]

Forest: Rachel's wife, Susan, was indeed very sick with Covid but that was some time ago and she has recovered. Rachel has cut her days on MSNBC because she is working on a film based on her book "Bagman." Alex Wagner is top notch and she will be an excellent replacement although I don't know if it will be permanent ––Rachel hasn't revealed how long she intends to just do Mondays along with being host for the panel discussion re: the Jan.6 hearings. But maybe Rachel's love of the outdoors along with fishing/boating will lure her away for many a day and have her say––bye bye five days a week permanently.

Nisky: One longs for the late Molly Ivins, the whipper snapper journalist who never minced words about Texas:

"The next time I tell you someone from Texas should not be president of the U.S., please pay attention." She said this after the second George Bush mounted the national stage."

"When I would denounce some sorry sumbitch in the Ledge, as an egg-sukin child molester, who ran on all fours and had the brains of an adolescence pissant, I would courageously prepare myself to be horse-whipped at the least. All that ever happened was, I'd see the sumbitch in the capitol the next day, he'd beam, spread his arms and say, 'Baby, Yew put mah name in yore paper! ' "

As Texas goes.....

;

[Jeanne]

PD: Maybe Ledge is actually Lege? As in legislature...? I didn't know Molly Ivins' work very well, but appreciated reading her wit and wisdom. She, and Governor Richards, whose daughter propped up Planned Parenthood for years, and Wendy Davis are about the only written or heard people I have known about. I read Juanita Jean's Dangerous Beauty Salon blog sometimes...I can therefore say that there is no way I would go there, visit there, or live there. The intensifying news about how Californians who dislike liberals are moving there in droves makes it completely off limits. Nonetheless, I would have liked to visit San Antonio and Austin, blue dot(s)in an endless red sea, but will resolve to NOT spend any money there ever. I am not alone, I know, but my sense of the country is narrowing by the day. It appears to be limited to both coasts, New England, maybe Colorado, several states in the midwest, and that's about it. Maybe I should count them up and make a new flag...Since there are no mild-mannered, civilized repugnants, I don't think it will bother anyone.

[Whyte Owen]

I have sometimes thought that Chris Hedges can be a little over the top, but not this time:

https://chrishedges.substack.com/p/fascists-in-our-midst

[P.D. Pepe]

Whyte: I can't thank you enough for the Chris Hedges. He used to write for Truthdig but he and others left that site because of some trouble with the running of it. I always read Chris––-discovered him years ago from reading one of his books. Wondered what had happened to him. But thanks to you, I now know he has his own site and I will connect. This piece is is full to bursting and I urge others to read it. and by the way, Madeline Albright was saying the same.

[RAS]

Couldn't help but think of baby Trump as Hutchinson was talking about Donnie's food tantrums.